Anxious wait continues for major coal terminal

The new Federal Environment Minister says more time is needed to assess plans to expand a major coal export terminal in North Queensland.

Abbot Point near Bowen is Australia's most northerly coal terminal and if the expansion goes ahead it will be the largest coal port in the country.

The former Minister Tony Burke had been considering plans to expand coal export capacity at the site and included plans to dredge and dump three million cubic metres of spoil out to sea.

July 9 was the initial deadline for a final decision on the project, but that has now been extended by one month.

In a statement, new minister Mark Butler says he needs more time to consider the project's potential impacts and hear the views of interested parties.

"It is not unusual to have short extensions for the assessment of large and complex projects like this one," he said.

"The initial statutory timeframe for federal assessment applies equally to all projects, whether it's a small housing development or a larger project like this one."

Mr Butler says a decision could be made prior to August 9 if he is satisfied with the information put to him by interested parties.

The dredge component of the plan is a concern to commercial fishermen in the area, like Nathan Rynn.

Mr Rynn says murky waters created by the dredge plume will threaten fish populations like Spanish mackerel in the area.

"I'm a bit surprised he's only delayed it for about a month, because it will take him a lot more time to talk to all the concerned parties," he said.

"I'd like to invite Mark up to Bowen to talk to all different business sectors and tourism and fishermen just to get a better view."

Mr Rynn says he will contact the minister in the coming days.

"The message we'd like to send him is that the spoil needs to go on land - it's as simple as that."

Greens Senator Larissa Waters has welcomed the move, saying it will give Mr Butler more time to decide against the expansion plan.

"He can now take the opportunity to get across the information and see that this will be a damaging proposal for the reef," she said.

"What's really important is that on the August 9 he says 'no' to this expansion.

"There's a proposal for three million cubic metres of dredging in the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area and then dumping that sea bed right back into marine park waters.

"The sediment doesn't sit where it's placed, it can move."

Senator Waters says the cost of dredging compared to onshore disposal should not be a factor in the decision-making process.

"The key point is that it's cheaper for the big mining companies to dump their sediment offshore in the world heritage waters of the Great Barrier Reef," she said.

"That shouldn't be a consideration, it's meant to be a last resort.

Senator Waters says the delay will buy more time, but worries a decision could be put off until after the coming federal election.

"There's still a clear chance of a Tony Abbott government and we know that Abbott is even closer to the coal industry then the Labor Party," she said.

But not everyone in the region is opposed to the development of Abbot Point.

Dave Nebauer, the chairman of the Economic Advisory Group for Whitsunday's Marketing and Development, says the Government’s indecision boils down to politics.

“The whole issue of the Abbot Point project is being clouded by the upcoming election,” he said.

“The reality is it’s costing people jobs and it’s putting significant pressure on local businesses and local communities while that uncertainty continues.”

Mr Nebauer says the local fishing industry is entitled to its views but says there is too much misinformation being put out by environmental groups.

“They are fighting a much broader war against the coal industry in general rather than the project specifically,” he said.

“The dredging has become caught up as a part of that.

“To put it into perspective, the Burdekin River every wet season is responsible for depositing 68 to 70 million cubic metres of material into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.

“To suggest that dredging three million cubic metres over a five year period is going to have a catastrophic impact on the marine environment and the reef is frankly farcical."

A LACK OF CONSULTATION

The fishing industry is frustrated with the port operator, North Queensland Bulk Ports, for what it calls a lack of consultation throughout the research phase.

In April, NQBP announced it would work more closely with the industry to find a new dumpsite for the spoil after fishermen, conservationists and tourism operators raised alarm about the potential impacts of the dredging.

Mr Rynn says despite this commitment he is yet to hear from NQBP.

"We haven't heard from them for at least three months since that meeting, they have gone cold on us," he said.

"They just don't want to have a bar of us.

"We've given permission for them to use our logbook data to improve any further studies they're going to do but we haven't heard back from them.

"We'd like some communication with that process because we have local knowledge they don't have.

"Everyone's nervous and no one wants another Gladstone"

Mr Rynn says the industry is not prepared to compromise on an offshore site for the spoil and says onshore treatment should be the only option.

"As far as I’m concerned, anywhere in the ocean will impact as greatly and we can't absorb any more losses in the fishing industry."

ABBOT POINTMANAGEMENT

North Queensland Bulk Ports is responsible for the overall management of the port and the expansion.

Indian mining and power company Adani now owns the site after the Queensland Government leased it out for 99 years at a cost of $1.83 billion.

Although Adani owns the port, it is managed by a subsidiary of Xstrata, Abbot Point Bulk Coal.

Adani uses the existing terminal (T1) and also has plans to operate T0 (an extension of T1) to bring its total capacity from 50 million tonnes of coal per annum to 120 million.

BHP Billiton is another major proponent of the project with plans to operate the proposed Terminal 2 (although this project is currently on hold), while GVK Hancock will operate Terminal 3.

On top of this, the Queensland Government last year announced an additional expansion known as APX after scrapping the previous Labor government's proposal for up to 9 terminals.

The coast of the project is between $2 to $3 billion per terminal and construction will take up to three years per terminal depending on start date.

All ports are expected to carry a capacity of at least 30 million tonnes of coal per annum each. However, this number will increase if the APX extension goes ahead.